City attorneys have gone to court in an attempt to collect more than $28,000 in back taxes that are owed on a former diner that made headlines last week when it was moved back to Willimantic.

The lawyers filed documents Wednesday in Waterbury Superior Court seeking to secure the city's claim, which includes the delinquent taxes, interest and fees.

The 55-seat structure was originally the Windham Diner, which was built in 1950 and operated in Willimantic until 1971. It was then moved to Waterbury and operated as the Valley Diner. The new owner had it brought back on a truck last week to Willimantic, where he hopes to reopen it under its original name in June.

Mike Haddad, a Willimantic business who bought the diner for $10,000 in December and shelled out another $20,000 to move it, said he was not sure what the city attorneys' actions mean for his plans. He said he assumed the property would be free and clear of liens when he bought it.

Haddad said the city of Waterbury can pay him $30,000 to cover his investments if it wants the diner back. He bought the diner from the American Diner Museum in Providence, R.I., in December.

"I bought a diner from a museum," he said. "Why would I think they weren't able to sell it? And they have the paperwork saying they can. I don't think that I owe the city of Waterbury for anything."

Waterbury officials said the diner, which sat at 1047 South Main St. for the better part of 18 years, left behind more than $46,700 in unpaid real estate and personal property taxes. The city, however, holds liens on only $28,372.25 of that debt, because some of the previous liens have been sold to private lien-holding companies in the 1990s, said Craig Sullivan, the city's corporation counsel.

Liens had been filed against the 1047 South Main St. property, and a warrant issued on the real estate, Mary Nardini, the city's revenue collection manager, said last week.

Attorneys with Carmody & Torrance on Wednesday asked a Waterbury Superior Court judge to place an attachment on the diner for $35,000 and grant a restraining order preventing Haddad from taking any action with the diner.

"We're owed taxes, and we had collateral down there, and someone came in and took the collateral and walked away with it," Sullivan said. "Nonetheless, we can't just let it go."

Haddad plans to spend $50,000 renovating the diner, which lacks kitchen equipment but is furnished with the original booths, counters and stools, and incorporating it into a larger restaurant.

"I'm too old for this grief," he said. "I bought it to give Willimantic back a piece of its history, but is it worth all of this? No. Neither is my reputation."

In more diner moving news, the former South Windham Diner on Route 32 was to be moved Thursday to a new location in North Windham.

___ Information from: Republican-American, http://www.rep-am.com